There are a great many proteins that localize to and collectively generate curvature in biological fluid membranes. We study changes in the topology of fluid membranes due to the presence of highly anisotropic, curvature-inducing proteins. Generically, we find a surprisingly rich phase diagram with phases of both positive and negative Gaussian curvature. As a concrete example modeled on experiments, we find that a lamellar phase in a negative Gaussian curvature regime exhibits a propensity to form screw dislocations of definite Burgers scalar but of both chiralities.

• Received 7 July 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.84.061909